Major changes are on the way for this blog, including a revised layout and new photography style. I have sped up the pace of posts to get through remaining material that has been uploaded. These changes have, perhaps, been a long time coming.
I started this blog in 2017 as a way to shine light on the positive aspects of rural Pennsylvania and to give people there hope and a feeling that they were valued and not alone. If successful, perhaps even boast outside interest or spending in the area.
Unfortunately, it seems these efforts have been misguided. I can not in good conscience try to bolster people so mired in ignorance, bigotry, xenophobia, parochialism, fear and self loathing such that there are no depths to which they will not sink to lash out at others who have done them no harm.
The last four years have been difficult. The present administration inherited a mess and did an outstanding job of lowering inflation, preventing a recession and has now been able to start lowering interest rates. Unemployment is low, GDP growth is good, and the price of gas has been coming down.
The election will create changes that hurt the vast majority of Americans. The party that comes into power will continue its sole agenda of driving more and more wealth to the mega rich and large corporations that convert it into profits, rather than investment or wage support. Social Security, Medicare, the cost of living, healthcare, education, the environment, housing, wages and working conditions are all now at risk.
These are not issues on which reasonable people can disagree. The president-elect is a convicted felon and has long and extensive history of fraud, sexual abuse and documented lying. He is a traitor who has done the very worst thing you can do in a democracy by trying to overturn a valid election by violence. He is not a Christian in any sense of the word, but a con man who is set only on his own self-preservation and enrichment. He has run a campaign of lies directed at demonizing marginalized groups while creating no constructive dialogue about policy or change. He will spend his time on the golf course while people behind the scenes set about dismantling America for profit. He is a narcissist, a sociopath, a compulsive liar, and evil personified. Oh, and he is also old and in poor health like someone else I know.
But this is no longer about his character, it’s about yours if you support him. Millions of people will suffer, or even die, because of incoming policy changes. But I know the red county residents of this state don’t care about that. Let me tell them this, you are not safe because you are white. Everyone is a target, it’s just a matter of where you are on the list, and since you have shown yourselves to be gullible, ignorant and easily manipulated, you are now probably higher up on that list than you realize. You are not in the right income bracket to be of any interest to the incoming party.
Prices will not go down, that’s not how that works. Deflation is only likely to occur in conjunction with a recession or other serious economic dislocation. Gas prices are controlled by the world-wide price of oil. Increased drilling will not have an effect anytime soon; throwing Ukraine under the bus might have a small impact. The US is already the top oil producer, but any increased supply could be easily offset by reduced production by OPEC. If tariffs are implemented, prices will get even worse, and there will also be retail closings and job loss. Proposed tax changes would seriously jeopardize Social Security and Medicare. People are struggling because of long term declines (since the 1970s) in wages versus inflation which have been aided by tax policies favoring the wealthy and deregulation.
I no longer want to hear anything about the following from anyone in red areas (let’s keep this just to ten):
- Inflation or the cost of living – the government has few levers to control inflation but tariffs could make things a lot worse very quickly;
- Cost of housing – investor groups will continue to buy up housing stock and force up prices;
- FEMA or emergency aid – expect defunding or slow response time here;
- Cost of healthcare or lack of healthcare – expect to pay more for prescription drugs, copays or even lose coverage all together; don’t complain if a female family member dies due to a pregnancy complication;
- Quality of education – expect major defunding here;
- The environment – reductions to air and water quality standards, increased threats from climate change, defunding of national parks or turning them over to developers;
- Crime – you cannot support a convicted felon and traitor and claim you are actually concerned about crime or law and order;
- Immigration or border security- this is a manageable issue and not one that impacts the daily lives or welfare of most Americans; this is not really any issue in Pennsylvania where the largest group of immigrants are actually from China;
- Equity and fairness for all Americans – I know reds don’t care about this;
- Ethics or morality – read all of the above.
I will be discontinuing travel into red counties and no longer be featuring them on my blog. People who have consistently shown so little empathy or compassion for others deserve no such courtesy in return. I am sick of the hypocrisy in areas that actually have high usage rates of public benefits but want to deny these benefits to others and high crime rates while falsely portraying this as an urban problem. These areas are losing population and will continue to do so until people learn to embrace change and tolerate people who are different from themselves.
It appears that most people in this Commonwealth need to take a good hard look at themselves and their values and what a “Christian” actually is. May you be treated with all the care and concern that you have shown for others and feel the full force of the policies that you have chosen to put in place.
Disrespectfully,
Count me out
